Despite the risk of being mum-shamed, Lindsey McIver took to social media to warn parents about the dangers lurking inside of their own homes.

After their top-loading washing machine broke down, McIver and her husband decided to try out a front-loading version.

Despite warning their three children several times not to touch the machine, the parents were awoken early last Tuesday morning to their four-year-old’s frantic sobs.

“As I was trying to understand what he was saying, my husband flew out of bed and down the stairs,” McIver wrote. “It was then that the realisation hit. He had said: ‘Kloe. Inside. Washer.'”

By the time the parents reached the laundry room, their three-year-old daughter Kloe had locked herself inside the airtight washing machine that was quickly filling up with water.

McIver’s three-year-old daughter became locked inside her front-loading washing machine as it was filling up with water. Image via Lindsey McIver/Facebook.

“She was screaming but you couldn’t hear her,” she continued. “We were able to quickly stop it and unlock the door and get her out. Aside fro a couple of small bumps on her head and wet clothes, she was fine.”

The parents were able to find the child safety feature that will prevent the washer from starting, but does not lock the door.

“We hadn’t even used the machine yet so we hadn’t looked at any of the settings,” McIver said. “Also, it obviously took two curious kids to pull this off.”

At the time of publishing, McIver’s post has been shared more than 260,000 times.

“Thank you for taking the time to write this,” one fellow mother commented. “It can happen to anyone.”

“So glad your son came running for help and that your little girl is OK,” another shared. “Thank you for sharing your story, it could save other families heartache. Kids do the craziest stuff that we as adults would never think of. So happy it turned out OK!”

The family’s close call with their washing machine prompted a terrified McIver to share her story, in hopes that other parents won’t make the same mistakes they did.

“I want to encourage anybody who has this type of front loading washing machine and small children, or even grandkids who visit, to lock the door with a child safety lock and always keep the child lock setting on!” she wrote.

“I realise that there are ways we could’ve prevented this from happening. This is the season for swimming pool accidents and kids being left in hot cars and all sorts of other horrible accidents. And that’s what most of them are. Accidents. Shaming the mom doesn’t do anyone any good. We need to be open and honest about our mistakes to help one another keep our kids safe. And trust me, that mom is already beating herself up enough.”